One type of community interaction is competition. Competition is an interaction between species or organisms and the fitness of one is lowered by the presence of the other. Competition can occur when the species are competing in the same area for a limited food supply or when they must share limiting resources. Species less suited to compete for resources either adapt or die out. An example of competition is in the picture below, which shows two male deer competing during mating season.
Another type of community interaction is commensalism. Commensalism is a relationship between 2 organisms where one organism benefits from the other, but the other organism is not harmed but also does not benefit from the relationship. An example of commensalism is like the relationship between the sun and the plants. The plants benefit from the sun's sunlight, but the sun does not benefit from the plants, nor is it harmed by the plants.
Mutualism is the relationship between two organisms, where both organisms benefit from each other. An example of mutualism would be like birds flying in formation. They all benefit from each other. When the leading bird gets tired, it flies to the back of the formation and the next bird takes over. They continue this and benefit from this because they can fly longer and farther in formation.
Predation is an interaction between organisms where the predator feeds on its prey. The act of predation always results in the death of its prey and the eventual absorption of the prey's tissue through consumption. An example of predation would be like a lion, the predator, feeding on a Cape Buffalo, the prey, shown in the below picture.
The last type of community interaction is parasitsm. Parasitism is a type of symbiotic relationship between organisms of different specieswhere one organism, the parasite, benefits at the expense of the other, the host. An example of parasitism is like fleas on a dog. The fleas won't kill the dog, but the dog will have to be cleaned and treated.
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